The Fellowship of the Mystery
Ike T. Sidebottom
Introduction
Ike T.
Sidebottom, affectionately known as "Brother Ike," served as Pastor
of College Avenue Church from its inception in 1929 until 1965. [At home
with the Lord]
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In the Book of Ephesians we
find a wealth of doctrinal instruction which is directed by the Holy Spirit to
the believers of the present day. We remember that "All scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (II Timothy 3:16-17).
However, this does not mean
that "all scripture" is written to us, and for our doctrinal
instruction. It is all "written for our learning" (Romans 15:4) and
it is all "profitable for our doctrine," but it is not all directed
to us, or to our particular dispensation. Therefore, we must study to show
ourselves approved unto God, workmen that needeth not to be ashamed,
"rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (II Timothy 2:15).
As we apply II Timothy 2:15
to our Bible study, we find that the Bible falls into seven general
dispensations. There are also shorter and more specific dispensations within
each of these seven. A dispensation, as the term is used in the Bible, is a
period of time during which a man or men are tested as to their obedience to
some specific revelation from God.
The present dispensation, in
which we find ourselves and during which God is calling out the church which is
the body of His dear Son, was given to Paul, and is spoken of as "the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made
manifest to His saints" (Colossians 1:24-27). Revelation concerning this
mystery dispensation is not to be found in the Word except in the writings of
Paul.
Paul is the one and only
apostle spoken of as the apostle, preacher, or teacher of the Gentiles. His
ministry is definitely set forth as a minister to the Gentiles. This truth is
made plain in II Timothy 1:11—"Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, an
apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles," in Romans 11:13—"For I speak
to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office," and again in Galatians 2:7-9—"But contrariwise, when they
saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel
of the circumcision was unto Peter: (For he that wrought effectually in Peter
to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the
Gentiles:) And when James, Cephas, and John who seemed to be pillars, perceived
the grace that was given unto me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hands of
fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen and they unto the
circumcision."
In order to understand
clearly the message which God has given to us through the apostle Paul, we must
distinguish between the three definite periods in the general dispensation of
grace, which begins at Calvary and ends with the return of Christ in glory. The
three periods are set forth in the Scriptures as follows:
From the crucifixion of Christ to the setting aside of National
Israel—Acts 28:28.
From the setting aside of National Israel to the catching up of
the church which is the body of Christ—Phillippians 3:20-21.
From the catching up of the church which is Christ's body to
the return of Christ in glory—Revelation 19:11-16.
A careful study of these
three periods, within the dispensation of grace, will bring to our attention:
God's dealings with National Israel during the book of Acts
period, or the first period mentioned above.
God's dealings with the church, which is the body of Christ, or
the period in which we are now living, the second period mentioned above.
God's dealings with Israel and the nations during the Great
Tribulation period, which will follow immediately after the catching up of the
Body, or the third period mentioned above.
Even though three distinct
periods of ministry are recognized during this present age of grace, we must
understand that only two different companies of saints are dealt with. The
first and the last of these three different periods of the Holy Spirit's
ministry is directed toward National Israel, while the middle period of His
ministry is given to the church, which is the body of Christ. In other words,
the present mystery dispensation is a parenthetical period which fits in
between God's dealings with National Israel during the Acts period and His
dealings with National Israel during the tribulation period.
The Book of Ephesians is
directed to the saints of this parenthetical period fitting in between God's
dealings with National Israel during the Acts period and His dealings with
National Israel during the tribulation. In other words, the message which God
gave to National Israel from Calvary to Acts 28:28 will be given again to the
same people during the tribulation period which falls between the catching up
of the body of Christ and the return of Christ with His body, to set up the
Kingdom. The message given during these two periods has to do with the kingdom
of heaven which is to be set up on earth when Christ returns. This kingdom
dispensation is commonly referred to as the millennium. It is separate and
distinct from the church which is the body of Christ. The hope and calling of
the kingdom saints is the heavenly reign of Christ on earth. The hope and
calling of the body saints is the rapture of the church into glory with Christ.
This is clear to the Bible student who has observed that Israel is God's
earthly people and the body of Christ is God's heavenly people.
The hope of Israel and the
setting up of the kingdom are the subjects of Old Testament prophecy, the
gospel accounts, the epistles of Peter, James and John, and the book of
Revelation, but the hope of the body of Christ and the catching up of the
church into glory is revealed through Paul's epistles only.
It is also helpful to note
that Paul's epistles written during the Acts Period—Romans, I and II
Corinthians, Galatians, and I and II Thessalonians—revealed his double
ministry, "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Gentile)"—Romans
1:16. During this period his marching orders are found in I Corinthians 9:19-22
where he was "made all things to all men," that he might "by all
means save some." All of these epistles were written while God was still
dealing with National Israel in the closing part of the Acts period.
Acts 28:25-28 marks the time
of the setting aside of National Israel, and from that time forth the Holy
Spirit uses Paul to magnify the truth concerning the body of Christ and the
mystery dispensation. His epistles written after Acts 28:28 are Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, I and II Timothy, Titus and Philemon. In these
epistles "the middle wall of partition" between the Jew and the
Gentile is no longer standing (Ephesians 2:14-18). It was broken down at the
cross, but was permitted to separate between the saved Jews and the saved
Gentiles as long as God dealt with Israel as a nation, or up to Acts 28:28.
It is evident that the last
appeal which the Holy Spirit made to National Israel was made through the
apostle Paul, and is recorded in Acts 28:17-28. This message was given to
"the chief of the Jews" (verse 17). At that time, Paul was bound with
a chain for the "hope of Israel" (verse 20). As Paul unburdened his
heart before the Jewish brethren, he "testified the kingdom of God,
persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the
prophets, from morning till evening" (verse 23).
There was nothing in this
last message to Israel concerning the body of Christ, or the mystery
dispensation. He could not have given them truth concerning the
"mystery" out of the law of Moses and the prophets because the
mystery had been hid "from ages and from generations" previous to its
revelation to Paul (Colossians 1:25-28). It was the "kingdom of God"
that Paul preached to these dispersed Jews of Rome. Therefore, he used the
Scriptures given through the Law of Moses and the prophets.
When the Jews "agreed
not among themselves" concerning Paul's message, he closed his message
with a quotation from Isaiah, chapter 6, saying, "Well spake the Holy
Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, go unto this people, and
say, hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see
and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you,
that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear
it" (verses 25-28).
These verses mark the
setting aside of National Israel until after the church, which is the body of
Christ, is completed and glorified. With the nation of Israel set aside and the
middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile broken down, there was
no more place for "the law of commandments contained in ordinances."
For full proof of this statement carefully and prayerfully study the following
Scriptures:
Ephesians 2:14-15—"For
He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall
of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law
of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one
new man, so making peace."
Colossians 2:13-14—"And
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He
quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross."
Colossians 2:20-22—"Wherefore
if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though
living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not;
handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and
doctrines of men."
With the nation of Israel
set aside and the middle wall of partition broken down, there is no more place
for "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Ephesians
2:15, Colossians 2:14 and 2:20-23).
As we go into a verse by
verse study of the Book of Ephesians, we must remember that we are not in the
"shadow" days of the Old Testament, nor in the "Jew only"
and the "Jew first" days of the book of Acts, but we are studying a
book which has to do with the revelation of the very capstone of God's entire
building program, namely the building of the church which is Christ's
body—Ephesians 1:22-23.
Ephesians 1
In Verses 1 and 2 Paul salutes the saints at Ephesus and the
"faithful in Christ Jesus" with the familiar epistolary
salutation—"grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ."
These two words,
"grace" and "peace," are found in the opening verses of
every one of Paul's epistles. The order is always the same, grace, then peace;
never peace and grace. There is no peace for the depraved human heart until
first the grace of God is manifested through His Son Jesus Christ.
"We have peace with
God" because we have been "justified by faith" through our Lord
Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). And having been justified by faith, "the peace
of God, which passeth all understanding" keeps our "hearts and minds,
through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). When the Lord returns to the
earth "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," He shall
set up His kingdom over the whole earth and then there shall be peace on earth
and "good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). But let us ever remember that
our present "peace with God," the "peace of God," and the
future world wide "peace on earth" are resting upon the grace of God
which is made known through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the Holy Spirit
always says, grace and peace and never, peace and grace.
We also call attention to
the fact that this "grace" and "peace" flows out "from
God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." The Son had glory with
the Father "before the world was" (John 17:5). He left the glory
world and "took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians
2:7-8). It was here that God "made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians
5:21). It was God's eternal love and grace that brought the Son from heaven's
glory to the cross of Calvary where He bore "our sins in His own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24).
This love and grace of God
is set forth in the gospel hymn by William R. Newell—
O, the love that drew
salvation's plan,
O, the grace that brought it
down to man,
O, the mighty gulf that God
did span,
At Calvary.
Mercy there was great and
grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied
to me,
There my burdened soul found
liberty,
At Calvary.
In Verses 3 to 14 we get a glimpse of the eternal purpose and
plan of God which is now being worked out through the Lord Jesus Christ and the
Holy Spirit. At the time Paul penned these verses he was suffering untold
cruelties of earth, but he was enjoying unlimited visions of heaven. Though he
was lodged in a Roman prison, he launches forth into the message of this
epistle with the triumphant word "blessed" (verse 3).
The clause, "blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" in verse 3, reminds us of
this testimony in II Corinthians 1:3-5—"Blessed be God, even the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth
by Christ." Paul seems to never forget the blessing and praise that belongs
to our God and Father and to our Lord and Savior. Perhaps our prayers would be
more far-reaching if they were filled with more praise and gratitude to God for
what He has already done, and less begging for things we think He ought to do.
We call your attention to
four things about the blessings of verse 3. He "hath blessed us with all
... blessings." They are "spiritual blessings." They are
blessings which belong to the "heavenly places." And they are
blessings which are secured "in Christ."
Seven of these blessings are
dealt with in detail in these verses. They are as follows:
We were "chosen" in Christ "before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in
love" (verse 4).
God "predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself , according to the good pleasure of His will"
(verse 5).
"He hath made us accepted in the beloved" (verse 6).
That is, He hath made us acceptable to Himself by robing us in the
righteousness of His own Son.
He has redeemed us through the blood of His Son by which we
have "forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace"
(verse 7).
He has instructed us "having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in
Himself" (verse 9).
"He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise"
until the day of the redemption of our bodies when the church is caught into
glory (verse 13).
Finally, He has enriched us with a specified "inheritance"
which will be given unto us when we, "the body, the church" meet our
Lord and Head in glory.
As members of the
"church, which is the body of Christ," we are God's children, or sons
(verse 5). This is true because we are in His Son. Our redemption and the
forgiveness of our sins is "according to the riches of His grace" and
the riches of His grace are "unsearchable" (Ephesians 3:8). Therefore
the measure of forgiveness which we enjoy in Christ is the measure of the
"unsearchable riches of Christ." In Christ, we stand "holy and
without blame" before God. God cannot see us as we were in Adam, fallen
and condemned; but He sees us as we are in Christ, risen and accounted
righteous. This reminds us of Colossians 1:21-22—"And you, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His sight:"
It is true that "we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away" (Isaiah 64:6). Yet, it is also true that we who are saved have been
made clean through the blood of Christ and we are now robed in His infinite righteousness.
Therefore, we are a new creation and we no longer belong to the fallen race of
Adam. Our citizenship is in heaven and our standing before the Heavenly Father
is just as perfect as that of His dear Son, because we stand in Him and in His
righteousness.
In Verses 15-23 we find the
recorded prayer of the apostle Paul to "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory" (verse 17) and for the "saints" of Ephesus
and the "faithful in Christ Jesus" (verses 15 to 16 with verse 1).
This prayer was prompted in the heart of the apostle by their "faith in
the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints" (verses 15 to 16).
Therefore, we may expect it to be a prayer of thanksgiving and praise; and one
that petitions the favor of God upon the saints.
The burden of all the
prayers recorded in the Bible is for the saints and not for the unsaved. The
Saviour came into the world "to seek and to save that which was lost"
(Luke 19:10); but when "one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us
to pray," He taught them to pray for that little Jewish remnant, which the
Father had elected to obtain kingdom glory, and not for the blinded multitudes
(Luke 11:1-4 and Matthew 6:9-15). When Christ, Himself prayed to the Father, He
said, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;
for they are thine" (John 17:9).
If we present-day believers
would study Paul's prayers recorded in the text of this lesson, in Ephesians
3:13-21, Philippians 1:8-11, Colossians 1:9-17, I Thessalonians 3:9-13, and II
Thessalonians 2:16-17, we would learn how to bring each other before the throne
of grace scripturally and without so much form and repetition.
The burden of the apostle's
prayer, in the verses of our text, is that the saints might know four things.
These four things are set forth as follows:
First, he prays that the
"Father of glory" might give unto the saints "the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (verse 17). All saved
people know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, but his petition for the saints is
that they may gain precise, or further knowledge of Him. This further knowledge
comes through acquaintance, fellowship and Bible study. It means growth
"in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"
(II Peter 3:18).
Second, he prays that the
saints might "know what is the hope of his calling" (verse 18). He
wants us to know that we are called to sonship "in the beloved" and
that we are not servants as under the Mosaic law (verses 4 to 6 with Galatians
3:4-7). Ours is a heavenly calling. Positionally, we are now seated "in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). Although for the present
we are living in vile bodies of flesh, and laboring under the constant pressure
of Satan, we are "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," and we
"press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus" (Titus 2:13 and Philippians 3:14).
Third, he prays that we as
believers might know "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints" (verse 18). We not only have an inheritance in Christ Jesus (verse
11), but He also has an inheritance in us. He "hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6-7). We are told again in Titus
2:14 that He "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works." In these verses the Holy Spirit gives us to understand that we are
the inheritance of the Son and that our relationship to Him throughout eternity
will bring forth glory to His name because of His grace, mercy, and love which
were manifested at the cross of Calvary in our behalf.
As we compare Exodus 19:5
with Titus 2:14, we see that God has an inheritance ("peculiar
treasure") in His earthly people, Israel, and He has also an inheritance
("peculiar people") in the members of the church which is His body,
His heavenly people. We must be careful not to confuse the hope and calling of
His earthly inheritance, "Israel," with the hope and calling of His
heavenly inheritance, the present-day believers, the body of Christ. We must
also be careful not to confuse the earthly glory that awaits Israel with the
heavenly glory that awaits the church which is Christ's body. The "hope of
Israel" is the coming of Christ in glory to set up His earthly kingdom,
but our "hope of glory" is the coming of Christ to catch us up into
heaven and change us from our "vile body" into the likeness of His
"glorious body." Such Scriptures as Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:1-9, 35:1-10,
Ezekiel 36:22-38, Joel 3:15-20, Matthew 5:5, Matthew 24:27-31, Revelation 1:7,
11:15-18, 19:11-21, and many others have to do with His second coming to the
earth to set up His kingdom and fulfill the promises made to Israel and the
nations that are to be blessed with Israel (Romans 15:8-10 with Genesis
12:1-3). On the other hand, the following Scriptures will enlighten us
concerning our position in Christ and Christ in us our "hope of
glory"—Colossians 3:1-4, Philippians 3:20-21, I Thessalonians 4:16-18, I
Corinthians 15:51-53, and II Timothy 4:8.
Fourth, he prays that we who
have been raised from the mire of sin in Christ Jesus might know "what is
the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the
working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come"
(verses 19 to 21). He is praying that we might realize that the same power
which raised Christ from the tomb and placed Him at the right hand of majesty
on high has worked in our own hearts and raised us from the power of sin and
from death in sin and hath made us to be citizens in glory in our risen
Saviour. Notice the expression "exceeding greatness of His power" in
verse, 19. This means surpassing power or power that is beyond all other
powers. Therefore Satan is powerless to hold the one who wills to trust in
Christ. He cannot keep the unsaved from being saved if they will to receive the
Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot keep the saved from victory over sin if they will
to yield themselves to Christ who is powerful to hold them. And best of all, he
cannot keep the church on the earth one second after the risen and exalted Head
calls us to be with Him in glory.
This chapter closes with the
truth of "all truth" concerning Christ as the Head of His church,
which is His body (verses 22-23). In this position Christ occupies a seven-fold
headship. He is above (1) All principality, (2) power, (3) might, (4) dominion,
(5) every name, (6) all things, and (7) the church.
The wonderful thing for us,
as members of Christ's body, is that we are given the position of power with
Him. When we subject ourselves to Him as members of His church, and allow Him
to work in and through us, according to His own good pleasure and will, there
is no principality, power, might, dominion, name or thing that can triumph over
us in our stand for the truth. This helps us to understand the meaning of I
John 4:4—"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because
greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."
Ephesians 2
In Verses 1-3 we see our
past condition by nature. "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins:" (verse 1). The Holy Spirit is here addressing all
who have been quickened or made alive "with Christ" on a basis of
unconditioned grace (verse 5).
Before we were quickened, we
were "dead in trespasses and sins" (verse 1); we "walked
according to the course of this world" (verse 2); we were busy fulfilling
"the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others" (verse 3). This was our condition by nature. The
marvel of all marvels is that the God of glory, who knew all about us from the
beginning, could have love and grace enough to choose us in Christ, to
predestinate us to the adoption of children by Christ, to make us accepted in
the Beloved, to redeem us through the blood of His Son, to instruct us in the
mystery of His will, to seal us with the Holy Spirit of promise, and to enrich
us with a specified inheritance according to Ephesians 1:4-11.
Even though we were dead in
trespasses and sins, we could walk. However, our walk was according to the course
of this world, and according to Satan, the prince of the power of the air. As
dead sinners, we could move about in the world and enjoy the lusts of the
flesh, but we were absolutely powerless to make one moral move toward God. We
were not disobedient children, but "children of disobedience" in whom
Satan works (verses 2 and 3) and upon whom the wrath of God comes (Ephesians
5:6). We were not merely sons of Adam, but sons of fallen Adam. Our nature was
not merely human nature, such as Adam had before he fell into sin; but fallen
human nature such as Adam had after sin entered.
Satan, "the prince of
the power of the air" (verse 2) injected the poison of sin into the blood
stream of the human race through the first man Adam. The unborn race was in his
loins when he sinned. Through this one man, Adam, "sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have
sinned" (Romans 5:12). This is why we were dead in sin before we were
quickened in Christ. Adam yielded himself to Satan and his fallen nature cried
out for the things of the world. We, the sons of Adam, inherited his fallen
nature; therefore, we came into the world with an inborn desire for the things
of the world which satisfy the lusts of the flesh. There is nothing in our
fallen human nature to help us resist the evil one; therefore, before we
received our new nature in Christ we walked according to the course of the
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and had our
conversation in the lust of our flesh.
God does not see the
children of Adam as graded sinners; some not so bad, others worse, and still
others vile and terrible. He declares, "There is no difference: for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22-23). In God's
sight natural men are all alike, dead in sin, corrupt by nature, sons of
disobedience, led by the spirit of Satan and under the wrath of God. These are
cold facts from God's infallible Word, but they are facts that the proud heart
of man both dislikes and denies.
in Verses 4-10 the divine
picture changes from our past condition by nature to our present condition by
grace. The expression "but God" (verse 4) brings to our attention the
one and only possibility for so great a change. Here is where God undertook for
us and did for us what we could not begin to do for ourselves.
We stand in amazement at the
grace of God to usward. Read again the record of what we were by nature (verses
1-3), and then read of the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus, as pictured so clearly in verses 4-10. Such miserable
beings as we were, yet He showed mercy toward us, loved us, quickened us, and
even raised us up and made us sit together with His Son in the heavenlies. In
all this, God was the sole worker. Our hands were tied by sin.
Before we could take our
present position in the heavenlies as companions of God's dear Son and one with
Him in all of His glory, we had to be cleansed. This, God did through the
application of the precious blood of Christ to our sinful souls. "The
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:7).
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God buried us with His Son "by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans
6:3-4). This burial and resurrection has been experienced by every child of
God, and it was accomplished "through the faith of the operation of
God," who hath raised His Son, the Lord Jesus, from the dead. Such a
baptism cannot be performed by the hands of man.
Our salvation is by grace
through faith; and that faith is not of ourselves; "it is the gift of
God" (verse 8). The gift of faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God (Romans 10:17). God has a definite plan and He is working out that
plan for His own glory. This is why He has undertaken for us according to
verses 4-10. We were included among His "vessels of mercy, which He had
afore prepared unto glory," and it is necessary that He cleanse us and
prepare us for our place in His plan and program.
We who are saved are of the
same "lump" as those who are lost. It is only by His grace and mercy
that we are "vessels unto honour" instead of "vessels unto
dishonour." Such sovereign grace is beyond our human understanding, but it
is clearly taught in the Word. For instance: "Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power
known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction: And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath
called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles?" (Romans 9:21-24).
Throughout "the ages to come" God will be showing "the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness to us through Christ Jesus" to the
principalities and powers of the heavenlies (verse 7).
God is "not willing
that any should perish" (II Peter 3:9). He has not predestined anyone to
hell. The "whosoever" of John 3:16 are "the chosen" of
Ephesians 1:4. Of the same "lump" some believe and are saved, others
believe not and are damned. The glory which comes to God through the salvation
of lost souls is not measured by the number of sinners that believe and are
saved, but by the "exceeding riches" of God's grace in the offering
up of His Son for the salvation of sinners. It will not be the number of saved
people in heaven that will bring glory to God, but the display of the
"exceeding riches of His grace" that made it possible for even one
person to be there.
Man was created in the image
and after the likeness of God. God permitted sin to corrupt him and kill him,
and render him utterly helpless. All the while God's plan of redemption was
completely worked out in His own mind whereby He was to lift the fallen man
through His Son, Christ Jesus, into an infinitely higher position with God than
that which Adam had before he fell. Adam was only innocent, we are righteous.
God allowed sin to do its complete work in order that He might glorify Himself
through the complete eradication of sin before the eyes of Satan and all of his
forces. This, He did when Christ came forth from the grave "having spoiled
principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them
in it" (Colossians 2:15).
God's plan for the walk of
the believer is just as perfect as His plan for the salvation of the sinner. As
believers, "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (verse
10). We must be God's workmanship before we can be God's workmen. It is equally
true that God's workmen must work according to the blue print laid down in His
Word. His entire plan is revealed through His Word. The Holy Spirit leads the
believer, but He never leads contrary to the Word.
As "workers together
with God" in the building of His church (not ours), we should study His
plan, revealed in His Word, just as carefully as the builder of a house would
study the blueprint of an architect. The one reason for all the different
churches of organized Christendom is the fact that men have built contrary to God's
revealed plan. They have built and are still building for themselves and for
their religious corporation instead of for God and His glory. "God is not
the author of confusion, but of peace" (I Corinthians 14:33); therefore,
He could not be the originator of all the different denominational churches. If
the organized church did not come from God, from what source did it come? See
Colossians 2:8 and 20-23.
In these closing days of the
church age we need to emphasize the fact that we are saved by grace through
faith (verse 8), and having been saved, we are complete in Christ (Colossians
2:10).
In Verses 11-12 the Holy
Spirit is addressing saved people, who have "in time past" been
"Gentiles in the flesh" (verse 11). He tells them of their past
condition by birth.
The past condition of these
who have been redeemed from among the Gentiles is indeed a dark picture.
"At that time," that is, "in time past," they were
"without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world" (verse 12).
God has a good reason for
excluding the Gentiles, of "time past," from the commonwealth of
Israel and from the covenants of promise. The wrath of God was revealed from
heaven against them "because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to
corruptible man, and birds, fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore,
God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour
their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up into vile affections: for even
their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and
likewise also the men: leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their
lusts one to another; men with men, working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with
all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full
of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of
God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to
parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit
such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them" (Romans 1:21-32).
Three things stand out in
the above quotation, namely,
"God gave them up to uncleanness" (Romans 1:24).
"God gave them up to vile affections" (Romans 1:26).
"God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Romans
1:28).
All of this God did because
"they did not like to retain God in their knowledge" (Romans 1:28).
This explains why God had to call Abram out from among his Gentile kindred in
order to establish with him the covenant of promise. "Now the Lord had
said to Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a
great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; And thou shalt be
a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis
12:1-3).
Later God gave to Abraham
and his seed circumcision in the flesh as a sign of this covenant. "And
God said unto Abraham, thou shall keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy
seed after thee in their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep,
between Me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be
circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall
be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. And he that is eight days old
shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is
born in thy house, or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy
seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must
needs be circumcised: and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not
circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My
covenant" (Genesis 17:9-14).
These truths clearly bring
to our attention the good reason for those of the "circumcision in the
flesh made by hands" calling the Gentiles the "uncircumcision"
according to Ephesians 2:11. This "time past" condition of the
Gentile could be changed in only one way and that one way was Jesus Christ (John
14:6).
We are told by the Lord that
circumcision was included in the Mosaic covenant also. In John 7:22 we find
this statement, "Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because
it is of Moses, but of the fathers;)." This sign in the flesh was to
remind God's called out people of what He expected them to be at heart. This is
made clear in Deuteronomy 10:16 where God said to Israel, "Circumcise
therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked." The
Lord wanted His people to be separate and apart and distinctly different from
the corrupted Gentiles.
Beginning with verse 13, we
no longer see the Gentile as he was "in time past." The Holy Spirit
says: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh
by the blood of Christ." The time element in these verses means everything
to us believers who came from the corrupted Gentiles pictured in the first
chapter of Romans. "In time past" we were given up to uncleanness, to
vile affections and given over to a reprobate mind; we were without Christ, having
no hope and without God in the world; but now in Christ Jesus we are made nigh
by His precious blood.
The One who has brought us
nigh by the blood of His cross is also the Saviour for as many of the
"circumcision" as will believe. They too need the cleansing blood
applied to their hearts. Just as the Gentile failed God before the Mosaic
Covenant was given, so the Jew failed God under the Mosaic Covenant. Therefore,
the Scripture concludes that "we have before proved both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God" (Romans 3:9-11).
Christ has not only become
our Saviour, but "He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in His flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in
Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came
and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For
through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (verses
14-18).
The enmity which stood
between the Jew and the Gentile "in time past," that is, during the
Mosaic dispensation, was "the law of commandments contained in
ordinances" (verse 15). These ordinances were blotted out and taken out of
the way through the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross. "The
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,"
He took out of the way, "nailing it to His cross" (Colossians 2:14).
This explains why the Holy Spirit tells us as members of the body of Christ
that we are complete in our Saviour without the observance of ordinances. He
says, "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the
world, why as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch
not taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the
commandments and doctrines of men?" (Colossians 2:20-22).
The fellowship which we have
in "the church, which is His body," is not based upon carnal things,
but spiritual. We are a company of heavenly citizens, waiting for the soon coming
of the Lord Jesus, the Head of the church (Philippians 3:20-21). Having been
raised and seated with Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6), we are admonished
to forget "those things which are behind," and "reaching forth
unto those things which are before," we should "press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling (or calling on high) of God in Christ
Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). Since we are "risen with Christ,"
we should "seek those things which are above," and set our affections
on "things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:1-2). The
religious ordinances belong to Israel and the earthly kingdom and not to the
body of Christ and the heavenlies.
The body of Christ is built
upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief corner stone" (verses 19-20). Indeed, the foundation work
of all the building that God has ever done is the same. It is all resting upon
that foundation which Paul speaks of in I Corinthians 3:11, "For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
The body, the church, is the
dwelling place of "God through the Spirit" in this dispensation. He
lives in the heart of each and every individual member (I Corinthians 3:16).
This truth is borne out in verses 21 to 22 where we are told that we are a
building "fitly framed together," and that this building
"groweth into an holy temple in the Lord"
We quote the closing
paragraph of Williams' Commentary on the 2nd chapter of Ephesians. "So the
chapter opens with men as an habitation of Satan (vs. 2) and closes with these
same now become an habitation of God (vs. 22), and verses 4 and 10 in the
middle of the chapter reveal how this amazing miracle was effected.
Ephesians 3
In Verses 1-13 the Holy Spirit deals with Paul's
"knowledge in the mystery of Christ" (verse 4). These thirteen verses
make up a division of this chapter which opens and closes with a suggestion
that Paul was suffering for the cause he represented. In verse 1, he refers to
his imprisonment and in verse 13, he speaks of his tribulations.
During his Acts period
ministry, Paul was bound with a chain for "the hope of Israel" (Acts
28:20), but immediately following his proclamation to the Jews in Acts 28:28,
he was in bonds for "the mystery of the gospel" (Ephesians 6:18-20).
This means that from the beginning of Paul's ministry (Acts 9:20) to the
setting aside of national Israel (Acts 28:28), a period of about twenty-one
years, he suffered for Israelites; but after he had delivered God's final appeal
to Israel, as a nation, he became a prisoner for the "Gentiles"
(verse 1).
Even though Paul was in
prison, he was always "the Lord's prisoner" (Ephesians 4:1). He was
just as active and useful in the Lord's service while in prison as when out of
prison (Acts 16:25-34 and 28:30-31 with II Timothy 4:6-8).
In the second verse of this
chapter, Paul calls attention to the fact that the "dispensation of the
grace of God" was given unto him. The word dispensation means stewardship,
or period of ministry. He also emphasizes the fact that this particular
dispensation leads him in service toward the Gentiles.
A short time before Paul
wrote the book of Ephesians, he declared himself to be an able minister of the
"new testament," (II Corinthians 3:6). The new testament is certainly
a covenant which was promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah in
the days of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34 with Hebrews 8:7-13). As a minister of
the new covenant, Paul was not preaching a message "which in other ages
was not made known to the sons of men," but he was confirming "the
promise which was made unto the fathers" (Acts 13:26-43). However he
clearly sets forth in this third chapter of Ephesians that by a special
revelation God made known unto him the truth concerning "the mystery"
(verses 2-7).
Men of other ages were
privileged to see that God would "justify the heathen through faith"
(Galatians 3:6-9) and that they would be made to rejoice "with his
people" (Romans 15:10), but no prophet of God, prior to the apostle Paul,
was permitted to see "that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the
same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" (verses
3-7).
The word mystery, as used in
this chapter, means "a sacred secret." The same word is used in
connection with the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:10-11). Paul uses it again in
Romans 11:25 in connection with the duration of Israel's blindness. The same
word is used again and again in the Scriptures. However, this mystery which was
revealed unto Paul was different from all other sacred secrets in that it was
"unsearchable" or untraceable in the writings of all the inspired men
prior to the apostle Paul. He was the first man whom God called upon "to
make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to
the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (verses
9-11).
"The churches of
Asia" seemed to be standing with Paul when he wrote I Corinthians 16:19,
but about seven years later he reminded Timothy that "all they which are
in Asia" were turned away from him (II Timothy 1:15). It seems that the
churches of Asia accepted Paul's message when he was an able minister of the
new covenant, but turned away from him when he began to preach "the
mystery."
Paul's experience along this
line was no different to that which the present day preacher meets when he
dares to preach the truth concerning the mystery without a mixture of works
which were associated with the old and new covenants.
In Verses 14-21
we have the second prayer of
the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, which is related in this Epistle.
The first prayer we have already dealt with in chapter 1, verses 15-23. Both
prayers have to do with the "spiritual blessings" mentioned in the
third verse of the opening chapter.
The deep underlying cause
that brought Paul to his knees before the "Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ" is clearly set forth in the following verses: "That He would
grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fulness of God" (verses 16-19).
The "inner man"
alone can be strengthened with might by God's Spirit. The some Spirit that
strengthens the inner man slays the outer man. The "outward man" must
perish, but the "inward man is renewed day by day" (II Corinthians
4:16). As we "reckon" ourselves "to be dead indeed unto
sin" the inner man grows stronger in the life of God, which is imparted
through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11). It is the inner man whom God
admonishes in Colossians 2:6-7, saying, "As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and
established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with
thanksgiving." The outward man can never walk in Christ Jesus, neither can
he be rooted and built up in Him. He can never be established in the faith,
neither can he abound in Christ with thanksgiving. Indeed he must be crucified
before the inward man can do these things.
The strengthening of the
inner man is to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit (verse 16). He alone can
guide the believer into "all truth" (John 16:13), thus nourishing and
strengthening the inner man. As believers, we must meet a personal enemy, who
is too strong for the outward man. "We wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Wherefore, we must take unto ourselves "the whole armour of God, that we
may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand"
(Ephesians 6:12-13).
Even "Michael the
archangel, when contending with the devil" dared not to bring a railing
accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 9). If
the archangel could not meet the enemy in his own strength, surely we cannot
successfully contend with him without the strengthening power of the Holy
Spirit in the inner man. However, through the power of the Holy Spirit the
present day believer can confidently say with the Apostle Paul, "I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). Just
as the Lord spoke unto Zerubbabel, saying, "Not by might, nor by power,
but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts;" so God speaks through His Word
to His present day church urging them to lean upon the Holy Spirit and not upon
the arm of flesh. And just as God caused the great mountain to become a plain
before His servant, Zerubbabel, so will He remove mountain high opposition from
before the onward march of any individual believer or group of believers in the
church which is the body of His dear Son.
The apostle is burdened for
the believers at Ephesus, and elsewhere, that we may be "able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," that we
"might be filled with all the fullness of God" (verses 17-19).
The breadth of God's love in
Christ is boundless, the length of His love is endless, the depth of His love
is fathomless, and the height of His love is measureless, says the author of
the Companion Bible. Such love "passeth knowledge."
The love of God makes it
possible for every believer to be "filled with all the fulness of
God" (verse 19). This does not mean that our capacity is equal to that of
God. A thimble can be filled with all the fulness of the ocean. A believer can
be filled with the fulness of God. Some believers are able to contain more of
His fulness than others, yet all may be full. As we empty ourselves of self and
the things pertaining to self, we make increasing room for His fulness. This is
why the outward man must be gotten out of the way in order that the inner man
may be filled with the Spirit, who alone is able to strengthen us and make us able
to comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of God's love.
The closing words of this
prayer are heart strengthening. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen."
We can neither ask for nor
think of anything that our God is not able to do for us. We often think of
things and ask for things that He does not see fit to grant unto us. This is
because we so often think and ask outside of His divine will and purpose for
us. We ask, and receive not, because we "ask amiss," that we may
consume it on our lusts (James 4:3). However, "If we ask anything according
to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask,
we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" (I John
5:14-15). So it is not a question of God's ability and power to work in us and
"do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think," it is a
question of yieldedness on our part to His perfect plan which He hath ordained
for us, even before the foundation of the world.
As we yield ourselves and
allow Him to accomplish through us far more than that which we ever thought of
asking for, we say with Paul, "Unto Him be glory in the church by Jesus
Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
Ephesians 4
In Verses 1-3 the Holy
Spirit refers to Paul as "the prisoner of the Lord," and not the
prisoner of the Roman Emperor. In the opening verse of the third chapter, Paul
declared himself to be the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the
"Gentiles," and in the sixth chapter, verses 19 and 20, he speaks of
himself as an ambassador in bonds, because he was making known "the mystery
of the gospel." It pleased the Lord to let Paul remain in prison after the
revelation of the mystery.
These first three verses of
this chapter make up the introduction to a deep and heart-searching message on
the walk of the believer. The same Holy Spirit that opened our eyes when we
were "dead in trespasses and sins," and let us behold the Lamb of
God, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and then baptized us into
the body of the risen Christ, thereby making us members of His church, has also
told us to walk in the risen Lord. He has said: "walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace." This is more than we can do in our own
strength. Therefore, He has said unto us: "As ye therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and established
in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving"
(Colossians 2:6-7). We received Him by giving up completely and admitting our
inability to save ourselves. We can only walk worthily in the Lord by giving up
our own ways and committing them unto Him that He may direct our paths. We have
no more strength within ourselves to make us walk in Christ than we had to make
ourselves new creatures in Christ when we were saved.
There is nothing in our
human nature to make us lowly, meek, longsuffering, or forbearing. There is
nothing within the natural man that prompts him to endeavor to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. However, when the old man is crucified, the
Holy Spirit furnishes the believer with ample grace to do all of these things.
Our business is to "die daily" and let the Holy Spirit have full sway
to work through us "according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
beloved."
While it may be impossible
for us to keep the unity of the Spirit with all of God's children, it is always
possible to endeavor to keep it. It requires two or more saints to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the "bond of peace," but every individual may
endeavor to keep it. The word "endeavoring" of verse 3 has exactly
the same meaning as the word "study" of II Timothy 2:15. We must
"study" to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. In like manner, we must
study, or endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit among the brethren. If God's
church would study the Bible and study each other there would be more honest
endeavor toward the keeping of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Verses 4-6 set forth the
sevenfold unity which believers must keep in order to have "the bond of
peace" in the assembly and among the assemblies. "There is one body,
and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all." Unless there is unity on the part of the believers
concerning every one of these seven points there can be no bond of peace.
The vast majority of
fundamental believers are in agreement concerning the "one body," the
"one Spirit," the "one hope," the "one Lord," and
the "one God and Father." It is the more than one faith and the more
than one baptism that is causing so much strife and division among sincere
believers in our present day and generation.
Christians are divided
according to Catholic faith and Protestant faiths because of the
"tradition of men." The Bible doesn't speak of a Presbyterian faith,
a Methodist faith, a Baptist faith, a Church of Christ faith, a Pentecostal
faith, an undenominational faith, a Bible church faith, an independent faith, a
615 College Avenue faith, or any other kind of a faith that divides the
brethren. There is only one faith and that is "the faith of the Son of
God" (Galatians 2:20). Sincere believers are divided and set at variance
one with another because of the contention that there is more than one baptism
for the members of God's church. We read in I Corinthians 12:13 that "By
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." In verse 27 of the same
chapter, we are told that this one body into which every believer is baptized
is "the body of Christ." In Ephesians 1:22-23 we are told that Christ
is the "Head over all things to the church, which is His body."
Therefore, it is clear that the Holy Spirit baptism puts the believer into the
one church which is the body of Christ. It is also clear that Ephesians 4:5
teaches that there is only "one baptism." Surely this one baptism is
the Holy Spirit baptism that puts the believer into the body of Christ, the
church. To contend for more than one baptism for the church of this mystery
dispensation is to invite division, strife and confusion among believers.
God's order is just as
strong for "one faith" and "one baptism" as it is for one
Spirit, or one Lord, or one God and Father of all. Remember, it is impossible
for any company of saints to keep the "unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace" as long as there is division among the believers on any one of
these seven points of unity given by the Holy Spirit to the church which is the
body of Christ.
In Verses 7-11 the Holy
Spirit sets forth the gift of "grace" to every individual member of
the body of Christ (verse 7) and the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers to the body as a whole (verse 11).
Our gift of grace is
"according to the measure of the gift of Christ," and Christ is God's
"unspeakable gift" (II Corinthians 9:15). The "gift of
Christ" cannot be measured in the words of mortal men. Such a gift can
only be described in the language of paradise, "the third heaven,"
where Paul "heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to
utter" (II Corinthians 12:2-4).
The gift of grace is
"according to the measure of the gift of Christ," therefore, it is
also unspeakable, hence, impossible to describe. No mortal tongue can explain
the grace of our God which is greater than all of our sins. "Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20).
Amazing grace! how sweet the
sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am
found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my
heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace
appear
The hour I first believed!
Thro' many dangers, toils
and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath bro't me
safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten
thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing
God's praise
Than when we first begun.
We were "dead in
trespasses and sin," and were "by nature the children of wrath, even
as others" (Ephesians 2:1-3); but now "unto every one of us is given
grace according the measure of the gift of Christ."
Marvelous grace of our
loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin
and our guilt.
Yonder on Calvary's mount
out-poured,
There where the blood of the
Lamb was spilt.
Sin and despair like the sea
waves cold,
Threaten the soul with
infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes,
grace untold,
Points to the Refuge, the
Mighty Cross.
Dark is the stain that we
can not hide,
What can avail to wash it
away?
Look! there is flowing a
crimson tide;
Whiter than snow you may be
today.
Marvelous, infinite,
matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who
believe;
You that are longing to see
His face,
Will you this moment His
grace receive?
Chorus—
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and
cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than
all our sin.
No man has ever appreciated
"the gift of Christ" who has not first seen that the gift included
the darkness of Calvary and the glory of the resurrection. We must understand
that the Father "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all" (Romans 8:32). He was "delivered for our offenses, and was
raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).
He was delivered into the
hands of wicked men to be "crucified and slain," but God "hath
raised Him up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible
that He should be holden of it" (Acts 2:23-24). He was bruised by man unto
physical death, and "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him," and
"put Him to grief" when He made "His soul an offering for
sin" in the second death. The Son had fellowship with the Father, while
hanging on the cross before the three hours of darkness. During the time He
prayed to the Father, addressing Him as Father, saying, "Father forgive them;
for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). But when the darkness fell
over all the land from the sixth to the ninth hour, the Son was separated from
the Father, and was tasting hell for every man. "And about the ninth hour
Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to
say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:45-46). Here
He was bruised by the Father and His soul was made an offering for our sin.
Here the Father made the Son "to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).
During these three hours
Satan tortured the spotless, sinless Son of God with all the agonies of hell;
but at the close of the three hours, Jesus "cried again with a loud
voice," saying, "It is finished" (Matthew 27:50 with John
19:30). His voice was not faint as one that was being killed and struggling to
the end that He might live; but it was with a loud voice that Jesus proclaimed
the triumphant words, "It is finished." Here He was laying down His
life that He might take it up again on the morning of the resurrection, just
three days hence.
"Wherefore He saith,
When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
(Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the
lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up
far above all heavens, that He might fill all things)." (Verses 8-10).
This passage reminds us of the words of our Lord to the Emmaus disciples,
"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His
glory?" The cross always comes before the crown.
Our Saviour descended into
"the lower parts of the earth" and remained there for three days and
three nights. This is in keeping with the words of Jesus to the scribes and
Pharisees, "for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth" (Matthew 12:40).
On the morning of the
resurrection, our Saviour came forth from the heart of the earth in a body of
flesh and bone. In that body He "ascended up on high," carrying with
Him "the keys of hell and death" (Revelation 1:18). Here He triumphed
over His enemies and "made a shew of them openly" (Colossians 2:15).
His triumph meant the
triumph of all Old Testament believers. All the saved people from Adam to the
cross were saved through faith in the coming Son of God, who was to bear their
sins on the cross of Calvary. When they died they went in spirit to the place
of comfort, in the heart of the earth, described in Luke 16, verses 22-26. This
is the place where Christ promised to meet the thief, who said, "Lord remember
me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say
unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:42-43). The
spirits of the saved from Adam to this thief were taken on high with our Lord
when He "led captivity captive" according to verse 8. In other words,
Christ moved paradise from the heart of the earth to the third heaven on the
day of His resurrection. This explains why Christ met the thief in paradise, in
the heart of the earth (Luke 23:43 with Matthew 12:40); and Paul was caught up
into paradise, in the third heaven (II Corinthians 12:2-4). The thief went down
to paradise. Paul was caught up into paradise. The thief's experience was
before the resurrection. Paul's experience was after the resurrection.
The Old Testament believer
left the body to go into paradise in the heart of the earth, but the New
Testament believer leaves the tabernacle of flesh to enter paradise in glory.
Paul says, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body, and to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8). Our saved
loved ones who have departed this life are not dead, neither are they asleep,
they are alive in the presence of the Lord in glory. One day soon the Lord will
come for His church to catch it up to meet Him in the air. On that day the
sleeping bodies of the members of the church will be raised and joined with
their spirits which have gone on to glory; and the living bodies of the members
of the church will be changed and caught up with them to meet the Lord in the
air. Thus the entire church, which is the body of Christ, will be glorified
with Christ our Head (I Thessalonians 4:13-18 with Philippians 3:20-21).
This is the blessed hope of
every member of the body of Christ: because "unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
In Verses 12-16 Holy Spirit
sums up in a few words the working out of God's purpose through the apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers of verse 11. These men are not
only gifted servants of the Lord, but they are themselves gifts to the church.
It is God's order that
through the combined efforts of these gifts the plan of salvation should be
given to the unsaved, and that the saints should be perfected unto "the work
of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ" (verse 12).
It is also God's
unchangeable plan and purpose to continue this edifying work "Till we all
come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we
henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they
lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in
all things, which is the Head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love" (verses 13-16).
The apostles of verse 11 are
not the twelve apostles, chosen by our Lord before His death and resurrection.
They are Paul and the eight men who were called by the risen Christ after His
ascension into glory.
The names of the twelve are
listed in Matthew 10:2-4. This includes Judas, whose place was later filled by
Matthias (Acts 1:26). The ministry of these apostles was to "the lost
sheep of the house of Israel," and concerned the kingdom of heaven
(Matthew 10:1-8). The names of the apostles mentioned in verses 11 are Paul and
Barnabas, who were first called Apostles in Acts 14:4 and 14, Andronicus and
Junia, who are referred to in Romans 15:7 as Paul's "kinsmen" and
"fellow-prisoners," who were of "note among the apostles."
In I Thessalonians 1:1 Paul associates Silvanus and Timothy with himself and
tells us in the 2nd chapter, verses 1 and 2, that they were bold to speak
"the gospel of God with much contention." Epaphroditus is mentioned
by Paul in Philippians 2:25 as his "brother, and companion in labor, and
fellow-soldier." Sosthenes and Apollos are certainly included with Paul in
I Corinthians 4:9, where he said, "I think that God hath set forth us the
apostles last, as it was appointed unto death: for we are made a spectacle unto
the world, and to angels, and to men." Compare I Corinthians 1:1 and 4:6.
The ministry of these men was to "the Jew first and also the Greek
(Gentile)," (Romans 1:16) and chiefly concerned the body of Christ.
"A Perfect Man"
When the church, which is
the body of Christ, has reached its fulness it will be "a perfect
man" and not "a bride." Christ is our Head and we, as members of
His body are moving forward "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ" (verse 13).
In God's own time the church
will be completed and presented to Christ "a glorious church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." It will be "holy and without
blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). This presentation will take place when our
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall come from heaven and catch us up to meet
Him in the air, changing "our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to
subdue all things unto Himself" (Philippians 3:30-31).
On this side of the rapture,
every member of the body of Christ lives in a body of flesh that is vile. We
must all say with the apostle Paul, "For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh), dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good I find not" (Romans 7:18). As many as lean upon
the arm of flesh are sure to be "tossed to and fro, and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive." This is why God has given to His church
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers "for the perfecting
of the saints" unto the work of the ministry. It is His desire that we
grow up in Christ and become established in the truth "that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro" by every wind of doctrine and the
sleight of men (verse 14).
Constant growth on the part
of the members of the body of Christ is assured to every believer who desires
and is willing to be fitted into God's purpose and plan. We draw our strength
to grow from Christ, our Head; "from whom the whole body fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love" (verse 16).
Spiritual Nourishment flows from Christ, the Head, to every
individual member of the body by way of "joints and bands" whereby
the body is linked with the Head. The different members of the physical body
are linked together by joints and bands and every member is directed by the
head to function in harmony with the rest of the body. Paralyze the joint, or
break the band between any member of the body and the head, and that particular
member can no longer carry out the orders of the brain to move in harmony with
the rest of the body. The body of Christ "is not one member, but
many" and "whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;
or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it" (I Corinthians
12:14 and 26). This is why we are admonished to hold fast "the Head, from
which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit
together, increaseth with the increase of God" (Colossians 2:19).
God Himself furnishes the
joints and bands whereby the members of His church are held together in
conscious fellowship one with another and with Christ, the Head. Men may join
themselves together and band themselves together in organized churches with
earthly headquarters, but only God, through the Holy Spirit, can join believers
together in the church, which is the body of Christ with headquarters in glory.
Let us take our stand
outside the camp of organized Christendom with our Lord and the faithful few,
who own no name but His. While the organized churches are working under the
name of more than four hundred different denominational divisions, let us
remember the admonition of the Holy Spirit—"And whatsoever ye do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the
Father by Him" (Colossians 3:17).
In Verses 17-32 we find
continued instructions to the believers. Having reminded us of our
responsibility in connection with the vocation wherewith we are
"called" (verses 1-3), and having informed us of the seven-fold unity
we are to endeavor to keep "in the bond of peace" (verses 4-6), and
having called our attention to the gift of "grace" for the individual
members of the body of Christ, and the gifts of apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers to the body as a whole (verses 7-11), and
having shown us clearly the purpose of the ministry of these gifts (verses
12-16), the Holy Spirit closes the chapter by setting forth a few things that
we should not do and a few things we should do.
Let us examine His own
words: "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being
past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness" (verses 17-19).
In these verses, the Holy
Spirit tells us that the walk of these "other Gentiles" led them
down, down, down. First, they walked according to "the vanity of their
mind." This caused them to have their "understanding darkened"
and to be "alienated from the life of God" through "the
blindness of their heart," and finally they were "past feeling"
and gave themselves over unto "lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness
with greediness."
God expects better things
than these of His children. We are not to walk as these other Gentiles walk
because we "have not so learned Christ;" if so be that we "have
heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus" (verses
20-21). They walked according to the vanity of their mind, but we are told to
"walk in the Spirit" and "not fulfil the lust of the flesh"
(Galatians 5:16); to "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath
given Himself for us" (Ephesians 5:2); to "walk circumspectly, not as
fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil"
(Ephesians 5:15-16); to "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God"
(Colossians 1:10), and to "walk in wisdom toward them that are without,
redeeming the time" (Colossians 4:5).
God has provided the one way
whereby it is possible for His children to walk according to the Scriptures set
forth in the above paragraph. Christ is this one way. We, who are saved, have
been "baptized into Jesus Christ." This means that we have been
"buried with Him by baptism unto death; that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4). We have the Scriptural right to know
"that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from
sin" (Romans 6:6-7).
Our walk "in newness of
life" depends entirely on our willingness to "die daily." We are
privileged to say with Paul—"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself
for me" (Galatians 2:20). Such an experience should bring the believer to
the place of saying with Paul again—"God forbid that I should glory, save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14). We begin to realize and enjoy
these rich, deep truths when we begin to reckon ourselves "to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This
is what God tells us to do in Romans 6 and verse 11.
Now let us go back to our
original text in the 4th chapter of Ephesians. Beginning with verse 22, the
Holy Spirit tells us to "put off concerning the former conversation the
old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts." He goes on to
tell us in verses 23 and 24 that we should "be renewed" in the spirit
of our mind; and that we should "put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness." In other words, we are
privileged as new creatures in Christ Jesus to "put off" the old man,
or the natural man that we received through the natural birth, and to "put
on" the new man that we receive through the spiritual birth. God no more
expects the new man to continue in the ways of the old man after conversion
than He would expect the old man to begin walking in the ways of the new man
before his conversion.
Since we are new creatures
in Christ and supposed to be walking in newness of life, God is entirely
justified in saying to us—"Be angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down
upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no
more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good,
that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers" (verses 26-29).
As we come to the closing
verses of this chapter, we are reminded of the fact that we are sealed with the
Holy Spirit of God "unto the day of redemption." He came into our
hearts to seal us as God's "purchased possession" after that we "heard
the Word of truth," and after that we "believed" (Ephesians
1:13-14). We are told in John 14:16 that He will abide with us "for
ever." It is not God's plan that the Holy Spirit should come into the
heart of the believer and then depart from him before His work is accomplished
and the believer is delivered safely into the presence and into the likeness of
Jesus Christ. He will not leave us until we are presented to Christ "a
glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).
Even though the Holy Spirit
will not leave us, it is possible for us to grieve Him and hinder His freedom
in working out the plan and purpose of God through us. God says—"Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God" and then follows up His statement with the
clear cut admonition, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and
clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye
kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (verses 30-32). It is evident that
bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, malice, lack of kindness, and
lack of forgiveness on the part of God's children will grieve the Holy Spirit.
It takes grace from above to
enable the believer to live in a body of flesh and not grieve the Holy Spirit
who lives with him. However, we need to remember that this grace has been given
to us "according the measure of the gift of Christ" (verse 7), and
that such a measure of grace is entirely sufficient for all of our need. God
has not asked us to do more than His grace will enable us to do. He has made it
possible for us to draw on Him for wisdom and strength and power to do all
things through His Son, Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:13).
We have Jesus Christ as our
Saviour and Lord. He is also the Head over all things to the church to which we
belong. We have the Holy Spirit living within our very bodies and He is ready
to guide us into all truth (John 16:13), and the truth will set us free from the
bondage of sin and enable us to deny "ungodliness and worldly lusts,"
and to "live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13).
Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5:1-17 the Holy
Spirit shows us that, as "dear children," we should follow, or
imitate God in our daily walk. The heavenly Father knows that if we can imitate
His love all the rest of our walk and behavior will take care of itself.
Therefore, He says, "walk in love." What kind of love is the believer
to walk in? Notice, "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath
given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savour" (verse 2).
How can poor fallen sinners
love as Christ has loved? They cannot unless they are saved by grace and made
to be new creatures in Christ, but even though we have been saved and are made
new in our Lord and Saviour, aren't we still weak through the flesh as a result
of the fall of the entire race through Adam? Isn't it a Scriptural fact that
even the "dear children" of God have to say, "the Spirit is
willing but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41)? Didn't Paul say, "I
delight in the law of God after the inward man" and at the same time he
said, "when I would do good, evil is present with me" (Romans
7:21-22)?
If Christ Himself has told
us that our bodies of flesh in which we live are "weak" and Paul, who
had been saved by grace and had been taught of the Holy Spirit to "delight
in the law of God after the inward man," had to admit that when he would
do good evil was present with him, how are we to ever gain such spiritual
heights as to enable us to "walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us?"
We must admit the weakness
of our flesh. We know from the Word that in us (that is in our flesh)
"dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). We also know that there are
weights to be laid aside, and we are mindful of the "sin which doth so
easily beset us" as we try to "run with patience the race that is set
before us" (Hebrews 12:2). Yet, along beside all this truth concerning our
human weakness, God has said, "Unto every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Ephesians 4:7). This
measure of grace is amply sufficient to enable every one of us to "walk in
love, as Christ hath loved us."
How much love would we be
walking in if we manifested the same love that God had manifested toward us?
The Father "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever lasting life. For
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17). He "spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). "In this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins" (I John 4:9-10). The Son "loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5). He "suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (I Peter 3:18).
"Beloved, if God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another. If we love one another, God
dwelleth in us and His love is perfected in us. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren" (I John 4:11-12 and 3:16). This doesn't necessarily mean
that we ought to lay down our physical lives for our Christian brethren. It
means that we should be crucified with Him and continue to live in the flesh
"by the faith of the Son of God" who loved us and gave Himself for us
(Galatians 2:20). This is the only way to let the same mind be in us which was
also in Christ Jesus: "Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery
to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in
fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross" (Philippians 2:5-8).
As dear children walking in
love, fornication, uncleanness and covetousness are not to be so much as even
"named" among us; "neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye
know, that no whore-monger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an
idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God"
(verses 3-5).
The God of glory, whom we
follow, also warns us saying, "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for
because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light (for the
fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving
what is acceptable unto the Lord" (verses 6-10).
It is interesting to note
with what clearness God has warned His dear children against the works of men.
He has said:
"Let no man deceive you with vain words" (Ephesians
5:6).
"Let no man beguile you of your reward" (Colossians
2:18).
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or drink, or in
respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days"
(Colossians 2:16).
"Beware lest any man spoil You through philosophy and vain
deceit" (Colossians 2:8).
It was the doctrines of men
that caused Paul to fear for the spiritual welfare of the church at Ephesus
when he was about to leave them for Jerusalem. He said, "Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His
own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous, wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts
20:28-30).
It is impossible for God's
people to "walk in love as Christ hath also loved us" and to
"walk as children of light," and at the same time be the disciples of
men. Men never draw away disciples after themselves through teaching the Word
of God rightly divided. They get their followers by "speaking perverse
things," and by "handling the Word of God deceitfully" (II
Corinthians 4:2). These are things that the faithful servant of God will not
do.
In these days of highly
organized churches and hireling preachers who serve them, it is of the utmost
importance to call the "dear children" of God back to the first love,
and to the walk in light, and to the proving of all things by the Word. God
tells us to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are
done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by
the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore He saith,
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is" (verses 11-17).
Ephesians 5:18 - 6:9
In this passage we see the
highest demonstration of the Spirit's power. Namely, the elevation of the
everyday duties of the Christian life into the spiritual realm.
In these verses we see the
possibility of wives and husbands, children and parents, and servants and
masters submitting themselves one to another in the fear of God. The
realization of such Christian fellowship and such natural and social
relationships is a greater exhibition of power than that of healing the sick,
working of miracles, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, or any other
of the extraordinary gifts in connection with the kingdom message of I
Corinthians, chapters 12-14.
To the wives (5:22) and to the
husbands (5:25), to the children (6:1), and to the fathers (6:4), to the
servants (6:5), and to the masters (6:9); God has said: "And be not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God" (Ephesians 5:18-21).
Wives, "submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the church: and He is the
Saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ so let the
wives be to their own husbands in everything" (Ephesians 5:22-24).
Husbands, "love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it: that He
might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word that He might
present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to
love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh. But nourisheth and cherisheth it, even
as the Lord the church; For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of
His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery:
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let everyone of you
in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she
reverence her husband." (Ephesians 5:25-33).
Ephesians 6
Children, "obey your
parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is
the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou
mayest live long on the earth" (Ephesians 6:1-3).
And, Ye Fathers,
"provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
Servants, be obedient to
them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in
singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as
men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing
that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the
Lord, whether he be bond or free" (Ephesians 6:5-8).
And, Ye Masters, "do
the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also
is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with Him" (Ephesians
6:9).
These orders are given to
the saved people of our particular church age and we can only carry them out
when we are "filled with the Spirit" (5:18). However, when we are all
filled with the Spirit, there is no room within us for the evil one who would
keep us from speaking to ourselves according to 5:19, or giving thanks according
to 5:20, or submitting ourselves one to the other according to 5:21 to 6:9.
Any Spirit filled wife will
enjoy submitting herself to a Spirit filled husband who manifests his love
toward her "even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it."
And the Spirit filled husband cannot but love and give himself for a wife who
is so filled with the Spirit as to submit herself to him as unto the Lord. But
let both wife and husband remember that just a little bit of the old devil in
either of them makes this divinely intended relationship impossible.
Spirit filled children find
it easy to obey and honour their parents who are also filled with the Spirit
and careful not to provoke the children to wrath, but to bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. And, of course, it isn't difficult for
fathers and mothers, who are filled with the Spirit, to bring up children who
are willing to obey them in the Lord. But, if either children or parents give
place to the devil, the result will be strife and confusion in the home.
The servant whose heart is
filled with the Holy Spirit can joyfully work with his hands for a Spirit
filled, forbearing master. And the master who knows his heavenly Master and is
filled with the Holy Spirit can always get along with his servants who render
their service in the will of God, from the heart, as unto the Lord, and not to
men. But without the filling of the Spirit, the devil will get in with his
weapons of greed and selfishness causing untold ill will and strife between the
employer and his employees.
After reading these verses
and prayerfully meditating upon them, we are brought to the conclusion that to
put them into practice in our everyday life, we must be "filled with the
Spirit."
The Bible speaks of the
baptism of the Spirit, Acts 1:5; the indwelling of the Spirit, I Corinthians
3:16; the gift of the Spirit, Acts 2:38; the sealing of the Spirit, Ephesians
4:30; the earnest of the Spirit, Ephesians 1:14; the anointing of the Spirit,
II Corinthians 1:21; and the fullness of the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18. It is the
fullness of the Spirit that makes possible the behaviour and walk set forth in
this lesson text.
God has made it possible for
us to do what He has told us to do in these verses. His grace is sufficient and
He is ready and well able to work in us a work of grace that will enable us to
live up to His instructions.
Our part is to "put on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness" and not "give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:24-27).
Ephesians 6:10-24
In these verses our
attention is first attracted by the word "finally" in verse 10. The
final words of this epistle remind us of those spoken at the beginning. As we
are enlightened concerning our "spiritual blessings in heavenly
places" in verses 3 to 14 of the opening chapter, so are we warned
concerning our spiritual enemies "in high places" in these verses of
the closing chapter.
The members of the church,
which is Christ's body, are seated "in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"
(Ephesians 2:6); therefore, both our blessings and our warfare are in the
heavenlies. This position we have in our risen Lord gives us a clear title to
all spiritual blessings in the realm of glory, and it also gives us free access
to all the strength, power, and might of our Lord, who has triumphed over our
enemies, "made a shew of them openly" (Colossians 2:15), and is now
seated "far above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion" (Ephesians 1:21). Such divine provision makes its entirely
possible for every saved person of this age to fight a good fight, finish his
course, and keep the faith.
Let us meditate upon verses
10-13, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto
you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand."
These words of instruction
are given to every member of the body of Christ. We are warriors and God
expects us to fight. He wants us to be daring in battle for His glory. Like
David of old, we should discard the armour of Saul and "put on the whole
armour of God." Above all things, we are to remember that our enemies are
not "flesh and blood;" but principalities, and powers, and rulers of
the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. Such
enemies are too much for the arm of flesh and for carnal weapons. It takes the
"whole armour of God" to enable us to "stand against the wiles
of the devil" in this "evil day."
The whole armour of God is
defined in verses 14-17, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God:"
Each piece of the armour,
referred to in the above quotation, is defined elsewhere in the Word of God as
being Jesus Christ Himself—
The girdle of TRUTH about our loins (verse 14) is the One who
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father but by Me" (John 14:6).
Our breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS (verse 14) is none other than
"Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I Corinthians 1:30-31). We can say
with Jeremiah of old, He is "The Lord our righteousness" (Jeremiah
23:6).
Our "feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
PEACE" (verse 15) is suggestive of our walk in Christ, who is spoken of in
Ephesians 2:14 as being "our peace."
That shield of FAITH, wherewith we are able to stop anything
thrown at us by Satan (verse 16), is "the gift of God" (Ephesians
2:8), none other than "Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith"
(Hebrews 12:2).
Our helmet of SALVATION (verse 17) is clearly defined in the
words of the Psalmist, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
(Psalms 27:1).
Our sword, the WORD OF GOD (verse 17), is the Word who was
"made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
Thus we see, that to
"put on the whole armour of God" is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the full meaning of Paul's admonition to the Romans in chapter 13,
verse 14, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for
the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof."
It is one thing to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is entirely another thing to put Him on and wear
Him in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, using Him as the
whole armour of God to give you victory in the day of battle. How foolish to
try to live without Him when we are privileged to put Him on. The reason so
many do not put on Christ is because it is impossible to put Him on until you
have put off self. This truth is clearly set forth in Ephesians 4:22-24 where
we are told to, "put off concerning the former conversation the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness." God requires us to put off the old man
as we put on the new man, and He stands ready to furnish the sufficient grace
for the full accomplishment of the change.
Those who have put on
Christ, the whole armour of God, are admonished to engage themselves in
constant "prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (verse 18). Paul
coveted the prayers of this group for himself and his ministry, "that
utterance" would be given unto him that he might open his mouth boldly,
"to make known the mystery of the gospel," for which he was an
ambassador in bonds (verses 19-20).
Paul loved Israel, his
kinsmen according to the flesh, so dearly that he could wish himself
"accursed from Christ" for his brethren (Romans 9:3). "The hope
of Israel" was so precious to him that he was willing to be bound with a
chain in order to make it known to his people (Acts 28:20). He was, indeed, one
of the "able ministers of the new testament" (II Corinthians 3-6),
which God made "with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah"
(Hebrews 8:8), but never with the Gentiles nor the body of Christ. As a
minister of the new covenant, he "expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of
the prophets" (Acts 28:23). At that time, he was preaching "the hope
of Israel" which was to be realized under the new testament, or covenant.
Upon Israel's final
rejection of the new testament kingdom and after Paul passed judgment upon them
(Acts 28:23-27), he said, "Be it known therefore unto you, that the
salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it"
(Acts 28:28). This verse marks the setting aside of National Israel and the
beginning of Paul's heavy burden concerning the church, which is the body of
Christ. Up to Acts 28:28, he was bound with a chain "for the hope of
Israel." After Acts 28:28, he was "an ambassador in bonds" for
the "mystery of the gospel."
This explains why Paul urged
the believers at Ephesus to pray for him, that utterance might be given unto
him "to make known the mystery of the gospel."
Only those who have on the
whole armour of God, and who are constantly praying, and who "love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" will be numbered among the warriors who
preach "the mystery of the gospel" and Scripturally practice
"the fellowship of the mystery."
The benediction, recorded in
verses 23 and 24, is indeed comforting—"Peace be to the brethren, and love
with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen."
"All Things Reconciled Through Christ" 23)
Pastor Gregg Bing (Colossians 1:19-Sermon:
How
God Saves Men
Believing
Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing
Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read
Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4
(A 10 Minute Video)
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
https://www.facebook.com/cecil.spivey
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